Master of Science in General Psychology with an Emphasis is Teaching of Psychology

Program Director - Dr. Janett Naylor-Tincknell

The MS in General Psychology with an
emphasis in teaching of psychology would help prepare instructors for community
colleges or for adjunct positions. The
goal of the program is to provide both content knowledge to teach a variety of
community college courses and skills related to pedagogy, adult learning needs,
and the community college environment. This program would be valuable for people who want to teach at community
colleges or high schools, people currently teaching but need to expand their
teaching repertoire to include psychology, or people who wish to transition
from an applied field to adjunct teaching. Requirements for the program are 30 credits of coursework, teaching
apprenticeship, and comprehensive exams. Coursework will be available online. Students will take classes part-time; 6 credits in the Fall and Spring
semesters and 3 credits in the summer for 2 years.

Course Requirements:

Teaching of Psychology MS Foundation Courses (18 credits):

Because most teaching positions require a minimum of 18 credits in the field of instruction, the foundation courses are
18 credits. The foundation courses were
selected to meet noted demands in community college instruction, including
General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Developmental Psychology and
statistics/methodology.

The foundation courses are designed to
provide students with content and delivery.
Half of the course will focus on providing students with the knowledge
in the subject to teach the material to others.
The other half of the course will focus on helping students develop the
skills to deliver that content in the classroom. Students with previous graduate training in
these areas may test out of the content half of the foundation courses but will
still get the benefit of the pedagogy content in the delivery half of the
course.

Assignments in these courses will link
how material is developed and taught in community college courses, such as
developing course goals and objects, course materials, and activities to
highlight subject content. Additionally,
students will be given the opportunity to gain skills in service areas typical
of community college faculty. For
example, community colleges may lack faculty with human subjects research
training to review research projects involving their students. As part of the PSY 845 course, students will
serve as reviewers for FHSU Psychology Department and will learn how to
ethically conduct human subjects research.

Foundation
Courses:

PSY
668 Neuropsychology (3 credits)

PSY
800 Advanced Abnormal Psychology (3 credits)

PSY
810 Developmental (3 credits)

PSY
820 Advanced Learning and Motivation (3 credits)

PSY
845 Experimental Methods (3 credits)

PSY
850 Inferential Statistics (3 credits)

Electives
(6 credits):

Elective courses can be chosen to meet
the specific needs of the student. These
credits may be transferred in from other graduate courses or selected from FHSU
courses such as:

PSY
685 Behavior Therapy

PSY
830 Ethics

PSY
812 Advanced Child Psychopathology

Course
on Community Colleges (taught by an experienced Community College faculty
member) about structure and processes of Community Colleges, working with Adult
Learners, Advising Students, and integration of technology into the classroom

Apprenticeship
(6 hours):

The teaching apprenticeship will
provide students with the opportunity to put into practice the pedagogy and
delivery skills learned in the foundation courses. The apprenticeship is divided into two parts (PSY
876 C) over two semesters. The first
part of the apprenticeship requires students to develop a teaching portfolio to
demonstrate their obtained skills as teachers.
The teaching portfolio will include observing established instructors,
developing a teaching philosophy, developing course materials (e.g., exams,
assignments, and lectures), demonstrating professional correspondence skills
with students and colleagues, lecturing to other students and FHSU faculty, and
reviewing fellow students on lectures and course materials. The second part of the apprenticeship will
provide students with classroom experience as a community college instructor
(student procured) or as a virtual college teaching assistant for FHSU.

Comprehensive
Exams:

Near the end of their training, students
will take the Subject GRE to demonstrate their grasp of the field of
psychology. Students must pass with a
score at or above the determined cut-off.
Students will have three opportunities to take the Subject GRE (Sept,
Oct, and April). Students can take the
Subject GRE at any ETS approved site.
Students are responsible for the testing fee.

Testing Out of
Content:

Students will be able to test out of
course content by taking an online exam (for a fee to be paid by the
student). The online exam will cover all
6 foundation courses. Students will
receive individual subject area scores.
If students’ subject scores meet or exceed the
determined cut-off for the subject, students are exempt from taking the content
half of the course but must take the teaching component of each course.

Dr. Janett Naylor-Tincknell, Director of the Experimental
PsychologyDepartment of PsychologyFort Hays State University785-628-5857jmnaylor@fhsu.edu